Child of the Wolves
by FeralLife
Summary: Blake is a daughter of the wolf goddess Lupa, raised to honor only strength. She believed that she would always have a place among the pack, but then Lupa sends her off to Camp Half-blood, to learn how to cooperate with her fellow demigods. To have a better life than continually fighting for her place-but that doesn't mean she has to like it. This takes place before the new series.
1. Chapter 1

I couldn't understand this at all. I was perfectly happy to live in Lupa's pack, helping to train the new Roman demigods… how could I even understand people, if the only family I'd had was the pack? Lupa had repeatedly told me that it was important, that I needed to learn to cooperate with my own kind.

Lupa didn't have many children, and most had died in the attacks on the Wolf House. I had been just a child then, a pup, but I understood the feeling of loss all too well. There's no words to describe how so many deaths felt in such a tightly-bound pack….

Perhaps I could run away, join up with another pack. Lupa's was the first and foremost, the biggest and most powerful, but there were others out there, created by Lupa's children. They'd all been called back to the Wolf House to protect it, but in the time since they had headed out once again. The survivors, that is, hoping to rebuild whatever they could of their old lives.

But then Lupa herself would come after me. I was her most promising pup in ages-the wolf goddess had always operated on different terms than the other Olympians. Have a few children, then challenge them to either kill or be killed. I was different, though, being the only pup in the litter.

That fact did nothing, apparently, to make my mother care for me especially. I'd still had to fight with wolves twice my size and thrice my strength. It was only pure luck that saw me through without any major injuries, though I'd limped for weeks afterward.

I sighed, knowing there was absolutely nothing I could do to remain here. Life was tough, but… it was the only home I'd ever known. Even worse, there'd be no fanfare, no gathering to wish me well. I would start my journey completely alone-and headed off into the wilderness.

Lupa said Camp Jupiter would favor me too well, that they would look at me and see only the wolf goddess staring back at them. I'd argued with her constantly-as long as I had to go away, why couldn't I at least go to a somewhat-familiar place? But, sadly, no. I was to travel east, towards Camp Half-blood. Towards an uncertain future.

I took one last look around Wolf House, then gathered up what little possessions I had and left. Wolf form would be so much easier to travel in, especially if I had to cross almost the entire freaking country-but I hated it, hated the feeling of humanity slipping away.

Still… I'd like to see the look on Chiron's and the camper's faces when a wolf shows up in their valley. That alone decided it, and I called up the feralness inside of me, letting it spill out and take over. Changing forms exhausted me-I wasn't like a werewolf, compelled so much to shift that it hardly took anything out of a person-and I wished I had eaten earlier.

Oh well; these woods were full of deer. I knew how to hunt, even though it was much more difficult alone. The world had faded into greyish hues, but my other senses opened wide to compensate. I broke into a run, carrying my little bundle of human money and clothes in my jaws.

The normal wolves knew well enough to stay out of the way of Lupa's children. We were similar enough when we were younger-and even a young demigod couldn't survive in a out-matched fight against the normals-but around adolescence, we shot up to our full height, more resembling dire wolves than grays. If that hadn't been enough-a few males reached something close to my height-my black coat, tinted with bright silver, would tell them that I had godly blood running through my veins.

That fact alone was the reason why I had mainly grown up without friends.


	2. Chapter 2

So I left, nodding to the few who I passed. They nodded back, watching me go. Normal wolves didn't have thinking like humans', but living under Lupa had changed them-they understood that I was leaving, probably for good.

But, still, they made no comment, no deviation from the usual respectfulness. Oh, gods… perhaps Lupa was already too late. Perhaps I'd lived so long with the pack that, like them, I was incapable of revealing weakness. Strength was honorable, weakness was to be killed-even emotions.

I shook my head firmly, letting the wolf's nature take over. It would only be a temporary relief from everything, but… I needed to survive now. I couldn't afford to let my emotions run wild and distract me from my journey.

From here on out, I was totally alone until I reached the Greeks-and even then, there would be no promises.

My stride increased ever faster until I was racing along a little-used trail, the trees little more than blurs at this speed. I had so, so far to go… perhaps I could find a highway and hitchhike for a bit. Yes, that would be good. Cars would be much faster than a wolf, and they didn't get tired.

I angled to the east, leaving the Wolf House-and my old life-far behind.

Sorry that this is a short chapter... I should've put this in with the first one. It'll get better with the next one, I promise!

Reviews/comments are very much appreciated!


	3. Chapter 3

Several days have passed since I left the pack-perhaps as much as a month. I no longer keep track of the days behind me, only the miles ahead. Occasionally I change into my human form, just to keep my human mind alive, but for the most part I race along the wilderness' pathways as a wolf.

Hunting has been quite good here. The mortals' cities and towns are so widespread, sprawling over the land, that predators generally stay far, far away. The prey, though, aren't as cautious, sometimes wandering even in the cities. It is easy enough for me to take what I want.

Once in a while the sea breeze makes itself known to me. Although faint, the tang of salt and water tells me that I am going the right way, that I am getting ever closer to my new life. It stirs something inside of me, something that I'd continually repressed ever since leaving.

I may be a demigod, but I am even less human than the others I'm soon to meet. Lupa is not a goddess like the others-she is far more attuned to the wild than they, except perhaps Artemis, the huntress. While they may have gotten soft in NYC, Lupa is still just as primal as her wolves, just as savage as eons before where survival of the fittest was the only law of the land. I may have human blood in my veins, but I am still trained by a wolf. I still feel the need to run with a pack.

And so, in the first few days after I'd left, I'd yearned to be back home, amongst the pack. I missed the feeling of fur brushing my skin, of the howls echoing through the night and lighting up my soul. I was nearly torn apart by being alone, feeling the emptiness settle into my bones.

But then I learned to twist it around, so that I now controlled the loneliness instead of letting it control me. It sank deep into myself, and I locked it tightly away. And, oh yes, I will learn to use it. Turn weaknesses into strengths, Lupa'd always told me.

I shake these thoughts away, lengthening my stride, forcing my muscles to move ever faster. The journey had become dangerous now, being so close to mortals' homes, but surely none of their weapons could hurt me if they couldn't reach me.


End file.
